Ghosh leaned back, straight-armed, from the table. “You sound like you’re not going.”

Kalico shrugged. “I don’t know if I can. Shig doesn’t think so. Neither does Derek Taglioni. They think I belong to Donovan now. That somehow I wouldn’t fit into Transluna high society with my scars, pistol, and quetzal-hide cloak.”

That brought a round of laughter.

“So, hell, Ghosh. I don’t know what I’ll decide in the end, but it will be a while before I make the trip back to Transluna.” Assuming she ever did. “Meanwhile, I want us all to stand down for the next couple of days. We need to figure this thing out. Determine what went wrong. We owe it to Alia and Stana to make sure it never happens again.”

44

Three different times Talina had had to slap Dek Taglioni free of Demon’s hold. The miracle was that—smelling like a tasty Donovanian meal of blood and raw meat—they’d made it back across that kilometer of forest to the Two Falls Gap dome. She’d fretted the entire trip, driven by the gnawing realization that she was traveling with an empty rifle. Didn’t matter that nine times out of ten when she crossed forest, she’d never fired a shot. Just the knowledge that her gun was empty left her feeling as vulnerable and exposed as parading naked down the central avenue in Port Authority.

They were back in the dome, her rifle safely reloaded and racked beside the door. Tal had used a hose to rinse off their gore-covered clothes, and they’d both showered. She’d needed most of a half hour to get the blood and guts out of her hair. Still didn’t feel wholly clean, but it had a glossy feel and sleek sheen as she dragged her comb through it.

Dek had insisted on cooking. Said it kept Demon from taking over his thoughts. She had finished eating first, washed her plate. Now she leaned against the wall, crossed her arms, and watched Dek finish off the last of his breakfast of sautéed vegetables. What the hell was she going to do with the guy?

Klea Morena? Seriously?

She’d pried the story out of him on the way back as they dodged tooth flower, claw shrub, three sidewinders, and a bem trying to imitate a boulder on an outcrop. She tried to get her head around the notion that Dek’s father could just ask a woman like Klea to hop into bed with his spoiled teenage son, and the poor woman couldn’t afford to say no. What kind of power was that? What did it say about the kind of system The Corporation had become?

“So, who is the real Derek Taglioni?” Talina wondered under her breath.

“You’re not the only one wondering that,” Dek said after he swallowed a last forkful of broccoli.